Snapdragon Dev Kit: Qualcomm announces first Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite mini-PC with new X1E-00-1DE chipset variant for under $900

Over a dozen Snapdragon X 2-in-1s and laptops have been announced so far, including the Galaxy Book4 Edge, Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 11, as well as two similar options from HP, among others. Now, Qualcomm has announced its Snapdragon Dev Kit for Windows, another option that is also cheaper than its 2-in-1 and laptop counterparts. Effectively, the Snapdragon Dev Kit is a spiritual successor to the Windows Dev Kit 2023, a Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3-powered alternative that was available for $599 when it launched in October 2022.

By contrast, the Snapdragon Dev Kit utilises the considerably more powerful Snapdragon X Elite. Seemingly so powerful in fact that Qualcomm has assigned a new model number, X1E-00-1DE. Based on the CPU, GPU and NPU specifications below though, it appears that the X1E-00-1DE is an X1E-84-100 in disguise. Regardless, Qualcomm includes the following ports, many of which have passed the first wave of Snapdragon X consumer devices by:

• 1x 3.5 mm jack
• 1x HDMI
• 1x RJ45 Ethernet
• 2x USB 3.2 Type-A
• 3x USB Type-C (USB 4)

Moreover, the Snapdragon Dev Kit features 32 GB of LPDDR5x RAM, 512 GB of 'Fast NVMe' storage and a Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 modem that provides Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity. On top of that, the developer kit has an fTPM chip and comes pre-installed with Windows 11. Incidentally, Qualcomm will bundle a 180 W PSU, despite the alleged efficiency improvements associated with its Snapdragon X architecture. The Snapdragon Dev Kit will be available for $899.99 on June 18. In comparison, the Surface Pro is one of the cheapest Snapdragon X-powered machines at $999.99. Surprisingly, it seems that anyone can register to pre-order the dev kit rather than those who are registered with Qualcomm's developer program.